Barney Calhoun at Black Mesa
by SurroundSound
Summary: Its just a normal day as a security guard at the Black Mesa facility for Barney Calhoun. Classified reasearch, cutting edge experiments and dabbling in the unknown. However things are soon going to spiral out of control in ... Unforseen Consequences.
1. Chapter 1

_ok this is my first installment of a series of chapters set in the first Half Life._

_I hope that I can live up to the standards set by other talented Half Life writers!_

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May 10th 2001, Black Mesa,New Mexico

Barney Calhoun leaned back in his chair in the staff canteen, stretched and took stock of where he had got to in life. He felt content with his job which provided interesting opportunities in an unique environment. Originally he dreamt of being a Federal Agent outwitting criminal masterminds, however things never go as planned. He didn't have the first class science degree from the Ivy League to start with. When reviewing the direction of his career knew he liked to be active and get stuck into things. Also, he preferred to reply on himself, so the armed forces probably wouldn't be suitable. That was when enlisting as a security guard seemed like the most appropriate choice to make. He passed all the tests with flying colours and was soon being posted all over the country to guard over various installations.

Then came his surprise assignment to the Black Mesa research facility. It was a great opportunity considering this was a top-secret assignment. But that meant that it had to be kept secret even from his most loved ones. He didn't even know his precise whereabouts. Somewhere in the New Mexico desert away from civilization was the most he knew.

Breaking himself from his thoughts, Barney rose from his chair, drained the last of his coffee and put the mug in the sink. A quick look in the cupboard revealed a half empty pack of chocolate biscuits probably belonging to Dr Dritz. He popped a biscuit into his mouth thinking the doctor wouldn't notice. His mind then wandered onto what the doctor was doing. As he had some time left on his lunch break, he thought he would go and see what the old man was up to.

The complex itself was extremely technologically advanced, mostly underground and extremely big. Currently he was based in the Unidentified Biological Specimens department which examined alien life forms that had been captured.

"_Those nutty conspiracy theorists were right all along." _thought Barney wryly as he walked through yet another iris scanner.

He learnt from Dr Dritz that there were many different alien species were contained in the facility, each with different traits, intelligence and capabilities. It all seemed quite sinister but Barney didn't want to kick up a fuss, so he didn't ask too many questions and just got on with his job.

After passing through several iris scanners, Barney came to where Dr Dritz's lab was located. Barney got along with the doctor and knew that he wouldn't mind a bit of idle chat. Barney opened the lab door and looked around. Dr Dritz was busy probing an alien creature that looked like a giant sea anemone. It was had a large mouth with dangerous looking teeth. It was suspended in mid air from wires attached to it by hooks. Dr Dritz himself was fairly large, in his late fifties, had dark hair and round glasses and was slightly hunched. There was a pumpkin at the far end of the room on a table.

"Everything in order Dr Dritz?"

"Yes yes, fine thank-you....I am about to reach the conclusion of my experiment" Dr Dritz was looking at the insides of the creature and didn't take his eyes away from his work when he replied.

"Um, I didn't mean...Where did you get that pumpkin from?"

"Don't touch that please! It is a crucial part of my setup." The doctor paused momentarily.

"But this creature is truly fascinating. It has developed an incredible survival mechanism. There is a sticky thread originating from its mouth that can attach itself to organic matter." The doctor went on. "Once the organic matter it attached, it is then reeled in and consumed as a food source..... which is the pumpkin in this case."

"Could that food source be me?"

"Indeed, so stay right there out of the way. Now watch. I am going to artificially induce this behaviour."

Dr Ditz got a pair of medical pliers and prodded around in the alien's interior. He then seemed to grab hold onto something and pulled. The alien twitched and shot out a thread from its mouth towards the pumpkin. The thread hit its mark with a faint splat and began to drag the pumpkin, knocking it onto the floor. The reeling in of the pumpkin was slow and menacing accompanied by a greedy chewing sound emanating from the alien. In a few seconds the pumpkin was destroyed sending vegetable flesh everywhere as it was chomped up by the vast mouth.

"Success!" cried Dr Dritz. "I will now write up my report."

"Ok. Have you finished playing with your pet already?" Dr Dritz didn't answer as he was preoccipied with searching for his notes.

Suddenly, Barney's radio kicked into life with a crackle.

"kkkkk. Would Mr Calhoun please report to the main desk in Sector 46C immediately. kkkkk"

"Duty calls" sighed Barney as he duly obeyed his order.

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_Please review and be as critical as you like. _

_..... I'm not so good at characterizations (especially of Barney)_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The room was remarkable only for what was not present. It was a small white walled room with one door and a bright fluorescent light in the ceiling. The room looked quite empty and plain apart from a metallic grey desk in the centre. On the desk there were only two items; a small semi-circular shaped black object at the back of the desk and an untitled closed envelope in front. However these were the only things present. No pictures, no computer, no files, no pens or other stationary. This gave the room a sinister impression and one might think it could be used for interrogation or detention.

Presently the door opened. In stepped a man in a blue-grey suit carrying a briefcase. He seemed to be in his fifties, had short cut dark hair, sunken eyes and a sallow skin complexion. He exuded an air of calm confidence that typically belongs to those in a high position of power. He closed the door behind him, walked behind the desk and put his briefcase down. He looked down onto the desk and studied the letter. Opening a drawer of the desk, he took out what appeared to be a letter-opener and opened the letter. After scanning the letter, he put the letter-opener back into the drawer, put his briefcase on the table, opened it and put the letter inside.

After a short pause he moved his hand towards the black object on the desk and pressed an invisible button on it. Suddenly, three prongs extended out from the object and the room darkened automatically. Each prong then fired a beam projecting a screen of light displaying information that seemed to form in mid-air. One screen formed in front of the man and the other two screens formed on either side. The screen in the centre showed a picture of Earth in incredible detail. All the continents, topography, oceans and weather patterns were there. The screen to left showed graphs of data constantly changing. Most of it was unintelligible and could have represented something like stock prices. The screen on the right showed what looked like news articles together with videos, which were being updated now and again. The man looked at the picture of Earth and seemed to come to a decision. He stretched out his hand towards the screen and moved his fingers deliberately. The screen reacted to his movements by enlarging the picture of Earth. The zooming in process was centred on the North American continent and continued towards a southern state of the United States of America. The image eventually resolved on an area of desert with large rivers that had etched out canyons into the landscape. A green cross-hair superimposed on the image marked out a small cluster of small black shapes. Words above the cross-hair labelled this point "Black Mesa". The man looked to the left screen which now showed a picture of a bearded man with thick rimmed spectacles. The man stared at the picture for a while, then meaningfully pressed some buttons on the black object which turned off the screens.

The room was dark for a while. Suddenly a large ball of coloured light appeared beyond the desk floating about a foot above the floor. It was vivid green on the outside and orange in the centre The ball of coloured light emitted a strange humming sound that came in phases, creating a mesmerising effect. The man picked up his briefcase, straightened his tie and walked purposefully towards the ball of light. When the man reached the ball, there was a flash of green light after which the man and the ball of coloured light disappeared. Presently, the overhead light turned on and the room returned to normal.


End file.
